Live at the WEF India Economic Summit

Here we are at the India Economic Summit, brought to you by the World Economic Forum — the organization so closely associated with the elite western power structure that is widely predicted to be in terminal decline — as it sets up shop in the financial capital of Mumbai after a couple of lackluster turns in New Delhi.

Manan Vatsyayana/AFP/Getty Images

Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani is one of the star participants at this year’s India Economic Summit.

As is perhaps inevitable in these conferences that are driven by networks and promotions, the topics seem — at least on paper – to push a rather grand view of India’s place in world: “Trading for Aiding the Global Economy: How can India’s increasing South-South trade relations support future global economic growth” for instance.

Last year, one Indian executive referred to the India Economic Summit as the “Wimbledon” of gabfests. It is held in India but full of foreigners in the same way that the tennis championships are dominated by foreigners and only feature British wannabes-but-never-wills (sorry Andy Murray and Tim Henman.)

We will wait to see whether shifting to Mumbai, a WEF first, will make for a more interesting and relevant conference. It has at least attracted a bona fide Indian business superstar in Mukesh Ambani, Reliance Industries chairman, who didn’t have to travel far from whichever Mumbai home he actually lives in.

Other prominent home-team players include Adi Godrej of Godrej Industries; Pratip Chaudhuri, State Bank of India chairman; and Ajit Gulabchand, chairman of Hindustan Construction Company who is slated to speak about urbanization without any apparent irony despite his problems getting the go-ahead to build a new supercity, Lavasa, right here in the hills of Maharashtra.

But if this is supposed to be a conference that faces up to — and tries to find solutions for — the most pressing challenges and opportunities that face modern India, it doesn’t look too promising.

Do the collective brains amassed by the World Economic Forum and its conference co-sponsor, the Confederation of Indian Industry, really need to spend 75 minutes grinding their way down to the nut of “How is India’s dynamic environment contributing to the rise and success of Indian CEOs globally?” or the “Power and Pitfalls of Popular Media,” another 75-minute discussion which appears to lack any participant from the very popular media it is, we predict, going to chastise.

It would be heartening to see an organization that professes to be “Committed to Improving the State of the World,” and has an annual conference in India, dedicate a little time to trying to solve the truly major issues that are holding back India.

Not the India of Bollywood parties at Davos. But the India of appalling child malnutrition, of a failing education system, of public healthcare nightmares (there is a healthcare panel but it asks, “How will India pioneer new discoveries in the global health landscape?”), of dysfunctional government, of dynastic politics, of a frustrated middle class, of prohibitive inflation. I don’t mean to dwell on India’s problems, but nor will India’s problems be solved if they are not addressed, and nor will India’s full potential as a global power (now there’s a topic this audience can appreciate) be realized until those problems are no more.

It is always useful when looking at the programs and speakers at these summits to correlate sponsors and panelists. Sure enough, many of this year’s panelists appear to be drawn either from summit boosters (Alcatel-Lucent, Reliance, ManpowerGroup) or from WEF subsets like the Young Global Leaders who dominate a panel dubbed “The Next Generation: Leadership in South Asia.” Get the connection?

All of which is fine, of course. You get what you pay for.

Except for the fact that a conference entitled “Linking Leadership with Livelihood,” held in India, about India, appears to be aimed at projecting a specific image of India to people who have traveled to India and don’t mind listening to a sales pitch about how great India is.

Don’t get me wrong. I think India is great, too. I’m just a little suspicious that a panel entitled “The New Role of the States: Catalysts for Growth” (that’s not a question, it’s a statement of fact) on which will appear the chief ministers of Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, as well as the premier of British Columbia, will give a well-rounded view of how states in India perform.

StilI, I am sure that interesting things will come from this summit. They always do, sometimes from the speakers that you least expect to be dynamic but who surprise you with genuine insights that can help make the connection between the India we live in and the India of the summit.

India Real Time will bring you frequent updates and highlights over the next two days.

–Paul Beckett is the WSJ’s South Asia bureau chief. Follow him on Twitter at @paulwsj.

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